


Without A Son

by RobronSugdenDingle



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 14:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16430891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobronSugdenDingle/pseuds/RobronSugdenDingle
Summary: Based on Spoilers - do not read if you don't like them.Based on the spoilers that Rebecca is taking Seb away with Ross and Moses.Aaron is extremely upset when Rebecca moves away with Seb, leaving him alone to realise that he's not going to see his son grow up.





	Without A Son

**Author's Note:**

> I'm unhappy with this spoiler storyline. Though it seems we have an adoption storyline coming up, but it seems Roberts not keen on the idea.

Robert knew when to stay clear of his husband and this was one of those times. Right now, Aaron was a rubber ball with the elastic bands threatening to snap, closed up but sensitive. You could easily tell when Aaron was either pissed or upset because he roamed around the house silently, as if someone had died and you had to be respectful by being quiet.  
  
He knew Aaron wouldn't hurt him, not physically anyway, he had grown out of that...sort of. But Robert knew to not aggravate him anymore, to not annoy him, hurt him or even say anything related to Seb.  
  
Yes, Robert was upset about his own son moving away but it was a two hour drive to Liverpool, not even that far. Yes, he was upset that he wouldn't be feeding his son every morning, giving him his bathtimes, taking him out for walks while he threw his own shoes out the pram...but...he knew what it was like to grow up without his mum around. It was probably the most horrible experiences you could go through as a youth.   
  
And besides, what if Rebecca woke up one day and panic when she realises she won't be able to see Seb? What if she wakes up one day and completely forgets about him? Robert couldn't do that to her.  
  
So he agreed with them. He let them take Seb, after throwing an early birthday party and after many promises of sending constant updates from Ross and Rebecca, he was gone.   
  
And Aaron...oh...he wasn't happy one bit.  
  
He had made his amazing speeches to Rebecca, begged her to let him stay, even threatened to call the police before Robert had grabbed the phone and cruelly reminded him that he wasn't Seb's biological dad, Robert was. He had cried at Rebecca's house and took Seb upstairs for two whole hours, chatting and playing with him, making him laugh with his tummy tickle time he loved.  
  
And when Aaron went for a walk because he couldn't stand the sight of what felt like an empty house, he returned and refused to eat dinner.  
  
Which brought them to now. Aaron had slept on the sofa, if he had even slept at all, and Robert struggled to sleep in his own bed, finding comfort in Sebs room, fast asleep on the wicker chair. Liv had chosen to stay at Gabby's desperate to get rid of the stress and tried to keep her focus on her college work instead.  
  
Robert walked downstairs, rubbing his eyes and his arms because God was it cold in the morning in just a t-shirt and joggers. Aaron stood at the kitchen counter, pushing down on the coffee press to get his morning cuppa and Robert walked behind him and put his hands on his husbands shoulders. Only to get Aaron shrugging him off with a grunt.  
  
Robert knew not to press any further. He flicked the kettle and set down a mug on the counter and dumped a tea bag inside. He glanced at Aaron, noticing how he had a red nose, the skin peeling away slightly and his red eyes that threatened to cry.  
  
"Pass the sugar?"  
  
Aaron stopped pressing down on the coffee press and grabbed the jar of sugar and roughly slammed it down onto the counter. Robert flinched.   
  
"Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"  
  
Aaron turned to look at him and glared before shoving the coffee press away and started shoving on his trainers. Thankfully they were old ones where he could just slide them on, using his thumb and finger to adjust the back.  
  
"Where you going?"  
  
"Piss off Robert"   
  
And that was all Aaron said before storming out.   
  
  
......  
  
  
Robert found him at the scrapyard surprisingly, sitting down inside and...peeking through the window, Robert saw that Aaron had held a stuffed bear up to his face, eyes shut and sniffing the bear, similar to how Chas had been doing with Gracie. They really were mother and son after all. He knew what bear he held, Liv bought it for 50p from a carnival and gave it to Seb and he loved to have that during his bathtimes.   
  
Robert sighed and knocked on the door, knowing that Aaron wouldn't like to be caught. Though, as soon as he opened the door, Aaron hadn't made any move to hide the bear, still holding it except in his lap this time.   
  
"Hey"  
  
Aaron gave him a glare in response and Robert shut the door behind him. He leaned against it and sighed.  
  
"So..."  
  
"How could you Robert?"  
  
Robert froze. He hadn't been expecting that.  
  
"What?"  
  
"How could you? With Seb. How could you abandon him? Send him away? What were you finding fatherhood too hard? Decide you couldn't be bothered with him anymore?"  
  
"Hey, hold on a second! Aaron, I haven't sent him away! He's my son, of course I can be bothered with him! Look, I know you're upset but don't take this out on me!"  
  
"You didn't even put up a fight! You don't care about Seb! You practically kicked him out the door to live with his brain dead mum and an unstable bloke who he doesn't even know!"  
  
Robert narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. Ok. They were getting somewhere, maybe not ideally, but they were getting somewhere.  
  
"Just because she's brain dead, doesn't make her less of a mum! And he'll get to know Ross! He'll grow up around them and get used to it! I care about Seb, which is why I sent him away to his mum! He needs a mum in his life...I don't want him to grow up like me..."  
  
Aaron clenched his jaw and shot up out of his chair, hands slammed down onto the desk. He made his way to move out the portacabin but Robert blocked his way.  
  
"Robert move"   
  
"No. We need to talk about this. You're doing it again, keeping in all your thoughts...you're hurting yourself without realising again!"  
  
"Robert I'm serious. Move!"  
  
Robert glared at him but still made no move to get out his way.  
  
"Why? What happens if I don't?"  
  
And...to his surprise...Aaron had actually put his hands on Roberts right shoulder and shoved him to the side, hard. He stormed out the portacabin, slammed the door shut and Robert heard his car speed off. He stood up in shock, winced when he felt his elbow throb and sighed.  
  
This couldn't continue.  
  
  
........  
  
  
When he returned home, he found their home empty. Aaron wasn't in the livingroom, the shower (he could tell because you could hear the water run through the pipes in the kitchen) or his own bedroom. He was about to call the police and inform them that someone had broken in, when he heard it. A sniffle, it was faint, but it was there.  
  
He heard another sniffle and another and then a quiet cry and mumble from....Sebs room.  
  
He cracked open the door just a tiny bit and peeked through to find Aaron on his knees, resting his arms on the edge of the crib, chin tucked in his elbows.  
  
"...weren't supposed to leave like that. I'm supposed to teach you how to drive...I'm supposed to take you to school...seems like Ross will be doing that now. I have never...and I mean ever...been so incredibly jealous of...of...an asshole like him. And i know i say swearing's bad but you know what? Fuck it. Swear all you want to Ross....he doesn't deserve to hear you speak amazingly well-"   
  
He heard a creak and turned around to find Robert standing there. He glared instantly and stood up, wiping his eyes until they were dry. Robert walked in and opened his mouth to speak, only to have Aaron storming past him, thankfully not in to him this time.  
  
  
......  
  
  
He noticed Aaron had resorted back to his silent ways, refusing to talk to him and refusing to so much as look at him. He had eaten bits of his dinner despite it being his favourite, Chicken Kievs and Chips with a side of mushy peas. He had eaten a quarter of a chicken Kiev and three chips, not that Robert was counting or anything.  
  
"So? Go on. Tell me how many chips I've ate...I can feel you staring"   
  
Robert put his fork and knife down and sighed.  
  
"I'm not...Aaron we need to talk about this...preferably without an argument...I'm starting to get worried again. You don't realise how worried I get when I see you spiralling downwards again...you're practically having a relapse"  
  
"I'm not having a relapse and I'm not spiralling downwards"  
  
Aaron sighed and shoved his plate on the table and stood.  
  
"Oh where you going now?"  
  
"Bed. I'm tired"   
  
Aaron tried to walk away, but his foot accidentally tugged on something underneath the table and he accidentally kicked it out and froze when finding the familiar stuffed Giraffe. He picked it up as Robert went to put his own plate on the table. Aaron's eyes watered instantly and he gripped onto the toy tight.  
  
"Oh. That's great isn't it? He's left Peter here. He's left this stupid giraffe here and it's his favourite..."  
  
"Aaron"   
  
"How's he gonna fall asleep now? We both know he can't fall asleep without Peter! It's the only toy that'll get him to calm down quickly!"  
  
Robert stood up and Aaron cried into the face of the giraffe, soaking the fluffy material and he eventually turned and headed upstairs, true to his word about going to bed. Robert stayed downstairs, thankful he had clothes in the dryer.  
  
  
......  
  
  
It was nearing one in the morning and Robert still wasn't asleep. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to sleep in his bed or sleep on the couch because Aaron was slowly breaking apart. He wanted to talk to Aaron, he really did, but right now, his right arm throbbed and when he looked in the mirror earlier, there was a purple bluish bruise in the shape of the edge of the desk, so pretty large.  
  
He was curled up on the couch, blanket over his legs as he watched Rem and Misa talk with one another. He glared at the screen and pointed at Misa.  
  
"Worst character ever..."  
  
The episode continued to play when he heard someone clear their throat, making him jump ten feet in the air. He turned around and smiled a little at Aaron before turning back to the TV. Aaron sighed and sat on the couch, legs bent up like Robert and leaned into him. Unfortunately, his arm dug into Roberts bruised one and he hissed in pain and Aaron panicked.  
  
"I'm sorry!"  
  
"No! No it's fine. Really, it's just a little-"  
  
Aaron gently grabbed his arm and turned it around to see the bruise and dropped his arm as if he touched fire.  
  
"I've done it again...I've done it again..."  
  
Aaron bent his knees up on the couch to wrap his arms around them and bury his face in them and began crying again. Robert put a hand on Aaron's shoulders, rubbing them softly.  
  
"Aaron I'm fine...come on, look at me, I'm fine..."  
  
"I'm so sorry Robert...I've done it again...I'm just hurting people I love...I knew it..."  
  
His breathing began to pick up and Robert pried Aaron's arms away from his legs, making sure to grab onto them tightly. Finally, when Aaron's arms had loosened and he had relaxed ever so slightly, Robert grabbed the sides of Aaron's face and made him look at him.  
  
"Aaron? Come on...breathe...try and copy me ok? Breathe...in....out...yeah that's it"  
  
Aaron copied him and relaxed instantly, his breath returning to normal speed and he leaned in to give his husband a hug. Robert squeezed him and pressed a kiss onto Aaron's head, only noticing now that he held the giraffe in his hands.  
  
"I wanted to be the one to take him to nursery"   
  
Robert pulled away from the hug and instead, pulled him in for a side hug, Aaron lying on his side with his head tucked underneath Roberts chin. He held the giraffe in his hands, playing with the fluffy tail that was hanging off.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Seb. I wanted to be the one to...to take him to nursery, take him to school and listen to him complain every single day about having to wear a uniform. I wanted to hear his first word...watch him take his first steps...I know I sound selfish but I wanted us to see that...and now we're gonna miss everything..."  
  
Aaron sniffled and Robert sighed.  
  
"We're not gonna miss anything. First of all, he's a Sugden...none of us can walk in a straight line drunk or sober..."  
  
Aaron snorted at that.  
  
"No but seriously, we won't miss anything, sure he might start talking over there, but when he comes over and visits, or we go over and visit, we'll get to experience his first words to us, won't we? We'll see his first steps around us...it won't be his first time ever, but...to us, it'll be the first..."  
  
"Robert...stop saying first so much"   
  
"Sorry. But...you get what I'm trying to say right?"  
  
"Yeah. I do. I'm sorry I called you a horrible dad...you're not. You're an amazing...you're the best dad I've ever seen in my life. You're the reason he's still here in Emmerdale and not Australia and you're the reason that I grew to love Seb and not resent him the way i so desperately wanted to....you're the reason we became a family. So if anything, you're the best dad in the world...not the worst"   
  
Robert smiled and pulled Aaron up so he could lean against his side and look at him properly. He still had an arm around the back of Aaron's neck and he used that to his advantage and only had to pull him in for an easy access to a kiss.  
  
When he pulled away, he leaned forwards and grabbed the remote for the TV and began rewinding it back. Aaron scofffed.   
  
"You're seriously watching your cartoons again?"  
  
"It's not cartoons, it's Anime!"  
  
"It's crap!"  
  
"It's amazing! And since you have made me temporarily take time off work, then I think you owe me this don't you?"  
  
Aaron rolled his eyes but leaned into Robert more and dropped the giraffe in his lap, ready to watch it. When he sat there, wondering why Robert had stopped rewinding it and paused it, he looked to his left and found his husband grinning.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You so secretly love this don't you?"  
  
Aaron blushed.  
  
"As if! This stupid Anime!"  
  
"Aha! You admit it's an anime! Don't worry Aaron, I won't tell anyone you like Death note!"  
  
"I'll write your name in my deathnote book if you don't shut it!"  
  
Robert put a hand over his heart, pretending to swoon.  
  
"You even remember the storyline and everything!"  
  
Aaron groaned and stood up, already making his way to the stairs, giraffe in his hands.  
  
"Forget it! I'm going to bed!"  
  
"Wait! Let me bring up the DVDs!"  
  
"You're sleeping on the couch tonight!"  
  
"Wait a second!"  
  
And just like that, they were back to their bickering selves, both still fairly upset and heartbroken that there would be no more of their usual routine. Their morning routine of making Sebs breakfast, no more of his fun bathtimes, no more of his constant crying and no more arguments of who would change Sebs nappy. They would return to their old routine, spending more time with each other and planning their hopefully permanent future with one another.   
  
Oh and Liv too obviously.  
  



End file.
